


Introduction to Espionage

by greendale_student



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M, Paintball, Season/Series 06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-08 21:23:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12873315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greendale_student/pseuds/greendale_student
Summary: Annie and Abed investigate the secret paintball game during season 6, and indulge in some callbacks to a previous game.  Takes place just before "Modern Espionage."





	1. Basic Cryptography and Covert Meetings

A cool spring breeze ruffles the water around Greendale's fountain, driving the resident turtles into sheltered nooks among the decorative boulders. Overhead, the setting sun casts a red glow on the tall thunderclouds that add drama to spring weather in the Colorado plains. A few students and teachers walk along the sidewalks between campus buildings; the scene looks much like an ordinary evening at Greendale Community College. Perhaps some of the passersby are more alert than usual, glancing around warily every few seconds before continuing on their way. Still, none of them seem to notice a figure quietly dart around the corner of a building and into the bushes beside the fountain, making hardly any sound.

  
Taking out a pair of binoculars, Abed Nadir surveys the office building that stands across a parking lot from the fountain. The spot, he notes approvingly, is an excellent vantage point for a secret agent--as it would be for a filmmaker, but for the moment his role has shifted from observer to active participant. Studying the windows one by one, he identifies the office he was looking for. Professor Duncan is still there. That means Abed has some time to wait.

  
Watching a large group of students emerge from their class, he takes note of the ones who seem especially wary--the ones who are part of the secret paintball game that's been happening all over campus for the last few days. With Frankie's ban on paintball, Greendale couldn't match the epic campus-wide wars that were one of the highlights of the study group's first two years, but playing secretly has its own appeal in the need for stealth and subtle strategizing. Like a spy movie. It took careful study just to identify Abed's rivals in the game. Just this afternoon, he realized that the students in one of the most formidable alliances are all part of the current Duncan Principle research team--which means that the man he's now watching is probably running the show.

  
As night falls, the streetlights over the parking lot come on. Focused on his surveillance, Abed doesn't notice a new arrival until a shadow falls over his face. And there she is, staring at his hiding place from the sidewalk.

  
Abed knows Annie's been playing paintball--he caught her studying campus maps and looking furtively at him a couple days ago in their apartment. They haven't talked directly about it; probably they assumed a moment like this would happen, maybe preferred to anticipate it.

  
Abed steps out of the bushes, standing in a dark corner beside the fountain. "Doing some birdwatching?" Annie asks smoothly as she approaches, one hand hovering near her coat pocket. Her mouth curves up slightly for a moment, then she assumes the stoic expression of a veteran spy working undercover.

  
"I'm not at liberty to say," Abed replies, getting into character.

  
"Maybe you need something to jog your memory?" Annie's hand twitches ominously.

 

Abed slowly reaches for the paintball gun tucked into his belt underneath a sweater.  "If you weren't all about school rules, I'd think you might be up to something," he warns.

  
Annie takes a couple of steps closer. "Well, in this game we're rarely what we seem to be, are we?"

  
"Very true," a third voice announces in a British accent. Abed and Annie turn around to see Professor Duncan watching them with a smug expression. Startled, Abed realizes he let himself get uncharacteristically distracted from the original plot thread. "For example, you might think I'm a rule-abiding member of the Greendale faculty who should report you to the proper authorities for playing paintball on campus. But then again, maybe I have a mysterious secret alter ego who--"

  
"Uses his students as cannon fodder while he tries to win paintball without actually doing anything?" Annie asks sharply. Exchanging a glance, she and Abed step outwards to either side of Duncan.

  
"Well, I hardly think--that's not a fair assessment of--the strategy is the real key to winning, you know!" Duncan sputters, dropping the suave voice he's been affecting. Offended, he backs up a couple paces but then stops, glancing around to check that they're not being watched. They all stand still for a moment.

  
Suddenly Duncan grabs for something under his sport coat. Abed pulls his gun, already knowing it's superfluous. He barely sees Annie's hand move. In a split second, Duncan is clutching a knee covered in blue paint and his weapon is clattering on the sidewalk.

  
Annie hastily tucks her paintball gun out of sight and kicks Duncan's under a nearby bench while he walks away in a huff. "Cool. Cool, cool, cool," Abed summarizes the scene. The standoff hadn't quite fit the spy motif; more of a Western feel, which reminds him of the game their second year at Greendale...but it's safer not to dwell on that with Annie here, standing right in front of him with that fierce look Abed associates with Greendale's more epic competitions. "How did you know about Duncan?" he asks, directing his thoughts towards more pragmatic concerns.

  
"I followed a couple of his students from the scene of a fight in Borchert Hall. They met with him in a supply closet instead of his office. It would've been a lot less suspicious if they hadn't been so secretive."

  
They start walking down the sidewalk, getting away from the evidence of their unauthorized action scene. "Have you been using your detective skills to figure out who's sponsoring the game?" Abed prompts.

  
"Why question it? They're bringing paintball back. Did you want to send them a thank-you card?"

  
"You know what happened in season two." Annie stops in her tracks and turns to face him, looking alert. Other people tend to get confused when Abed refers to their school years as seasons, but he knows that's not what surprised Annie. "City College set up the game to create chaos at Greendale," he clarifies. "We don't know if this mystery sponsor is up to something."

  
"Well, maybe," she says thoughtfully. "Have you found anything out?"

  
"I reached out to a contact who's taking tech classes. I'm hoping to get an update...right here." Abed stops at a newspaper stand in front of the library. Opening it, he hands Annie a copy of the _Greendale Gazette_. Then he reaches up to the top of the stand and pulls off a small plastic bag that had been taped in place. Abed and Annie sit down on a bench a few feet away; Annie quickly unfolds the newspaper and holds it up to hide their faces from passersby. Abed notes her impressive grasp of the appropriate tropes.

  
He opens the bag and finds a scrap of paper with some numbers written on it. "Coded instructions for a meeting," he explains. "He could have just texted me, but this way is so much cooler. The meeting's--"

  
"At the parking garage in an hour," Annie finishes his sentence. Abed stares at her. "What? You really need a more complicated code."

 

 

By the time of the meeting, it's fully dark outside and most commuters have left the campus. The upper levels of the parking deck are largely deserted, and the orange glow of the streetlights casts deep shadows around corners. Annie keeps a hand on her weapon as she and Abed search for their contact. Before she sees anyone, she hears footsteps. Someone emerges from behind a pillar, approaching cautiously.

  
As the newcomer gets closer, she realizes she knows him--it's Dave, the student from Jeff's law class who keeps volunteering to help out the Save Greendale Committee. Abed waves a greeting and Annie relaxes, though she still keeps looking around for any sign of rival players.

  
"I checked out the website for the game like you asked," Dave explains eagerly. "It's strange--the IP address is registered to Greendale, but it doesn't match any of the computers from the IT department's list. It's like they have some kind of covert setup on campus, but it's an official part of the school. They used an outdated format, too. Weird, huh?"

  
Annie frowns. "If they're based at Greendale, it could be anyone who wants to keep the tradition going, but how could they hide it like that?"

  
Before any reply, there's a mechanical sound--not loud, but distinct in the quiet parking garage. "Elevator," Abed whispers. Spinning around, Annie sees the doors open. Several people run out, fast and purposeful. As she jumps to the side, paint splatters on the wall just where she'd been standing.

  
Their opponents fan out to attack from all sides. Annie and Abed scramble behind a parked minivan and face in opposite directions, instinctively covering each others' backs. Annie sees Dave crouched behind a pillar, trading shots with two rivals. A third comes up from behind him; Annie hits him efficiently and he throws away his gun in frustration. Abed is holding off a couple more from the other direction; when he runs out of paintballs Annie turns around to engage them while he reloads. After a moment she hears footsteps and looks back to see a young woman approaching. Annie recognizes her as one of the students from Duncan's alliance. She takes aim; Annie's faster. Looking around, she sees the rest of the Duncan Principle research team walking away, out of the game. Annie turns to Abed, concerned; to her relief, there's no paint on him.

  
"How'd they find us so quickly?" she asks. "I've been studying countersurveillance techniques in class and I'm almost sure we weren't followed." Abed nods; she knows he has a keen eye for such things as well.

  
"I'm out," Dave calls. Sure enough, his shoes are painted fluorescent green now.

  
"Sorry we got you into this," Annie tells him.

  
"Are you kidding? I was in a paintball battle with two of the Greendale Seven. Classic college moment." Dave walks away cheerfully. Annie grins at Abed; she hadn't quite realized how legendary the study group's exploits had become with the newer students.

  
"They must have followed Dave," Abed muses. "But Duncan's group had no reason to do that. Now, if someone heard he was asking questions in the IT department..."

  
"They could have tipped off Duncan's alliance so we wouldn't know who was after us!" Annie exclaims. "Which means there really is something suspicious about the game, and if they have a secret computer setup--wait, I think I know where it is!"

  
"Where?"

  
"He said it looked outdated--they're using the old computer department we found last year! It's still closed to students, they could run their whole scheme from there in secret."

  
Abed nods seriously, with subtly different mannerisms that tell Annie he's still playing his spy character. "We'll have to investigate. It's a perfect place for a supervillain lair. We can get in through the trapdoor in the teacher's lounge, but we need to wait until there's no civilians around."

  
"We'll reconvene at 0100 hours, Agent," Annie announces. Something about paintball and the in-character dialogue makes her feel more daring than she usually would be, even as comfortable as she is with Abed. "I'll meet you by the library window. You know the place." She winks at him and walks away, wondering what impulse led her to make that callback.


	2. Ancient Artifacts and Villainous Lairs

The library is closed for the night, but the members of the Save Greendale Committee have keys. Making his way through the maze of bookshelves in the dark, Abed thinks this is more like the classic paintball games, with students hiding out on campus through the night. Approaching the familiar window, he sees Annie already waiting, the establishing shot perfectly framed by the shelves. The orange light of the streetlamp outside catches her face, echoing the color of the paint that rained on them when they kissed here four seasons before. Annie's invoking that moment, even in indirect fashion, was a departure from Abed's calculations of the group's dynamics; ordinarily he would be concerned about the potential for disruption, but he can't deny the excitement he feels instead. An elite secret agent wouldn't be nervous about his complicated past romance with an ally.

  
Abed walks over to Annie and leans nonchalantly on the windowsill. "Any particular reason you wanted to rendezvous here?" he asks.

  
He catches Annie hesitating for just a moment before she assumes her character. "We have to know our history in this business," she half-whispers, leaning closer. "The Greendale Seven rescued the school from a paintball conspiracy once, and maybe this is our chance to do it again."

  
"The coast looks clear. We'd better get this mission started before the security guards show up."

  
They slip out of the library and stealthily approach the teacher's lounge, weapons drawn in case other players are sneaking around now that Frankie isn't at work looking for rulebreakers. Indeed, they see a freshman peering around a corner in the hallway, but he takes one look at them and backs off. Reaching the lounge, Annie switches on a flashlight and checks that they have the place to themselves. With considerable effort, they shove aside the vending machine and open the trapdoor hidden beneath it.

  
Scrambling down, Abed waves his flashlight around and takes in the view of the abandoned computer department, the decor unaltered since the 1970s save for the addition of an impressive array of spider webs. When the study group first explored this place, they'd been in a hurry to stop a sandwich company from taking over the school; now Abed has more time to appreciate the mystery. Annie climbs down behind Abed, brushing against him. "Doesn't look like anyone's hiding out here," she whispers in his ear.

  
"If they're using the old computers, they're probably based in one of the classrooms," Abed replies. "I don't think many people know about the trapdoor; they'd come in through the main door at the other end of the building." Since their previous adventure here, there've been some renovations to reconnect the computer department to the rest of the school, but there wasn't enough funding to get it ready to be open to the public. Archaeology classes had been practicing fieldwork here; could some of those students be connected to the mysterious sponsor of the paintball game?

  
They tiptoe quietly and slowly through the corridors, wary at each corner of enemies alerted by their lights. At one point, Abed is startled by a sudden movement that proves to be a moth in flight. It's when he takes his eyes off the insect that he glimpses a shadow disappearing into a classroom. "Did you see that?" Annie asks. Abed nods and hurries down the hall.

  
As they approach the door, they hear a hushed voice saying, "Post three to base, I got two intruders! Red alert!" With a gesture to Annie, Abed turns off his flashlight and steps quietly to the far side of the door. At a signal, Annie waves her light in front of the doorway. A young man jumps out of the room, holding a paintball gun and looking in Annie's direction. Abed shoots him in the arm; the gun and a walkie-talkie fall to the floor.

  
"Who do you work for?" Annie snarls.

  
"Thanks to you, I'm off duty. Not my problem if you don't understand the game," he sneers back before walking off in the direction they'd come from.

  
Annie grabs the walkie-talkie and does an impression of the guy's voice. "Post three to base, I take that back. No intruders here." She turns to Abed. "Think they bought it?"

  
"Either way, we should hurry."

  
The hallway ahead is quiet, but they keep their flashlights off, knowing there are guards even in the middle of the night. Around the next corner, Abed sees a faint light coming from another doorway. "Let's see who's behind all this," he tells Annie.

  
They tiptoe up to the door, constantly expecting guards to jump out at them. Instead, it stays quiet even as Annie tentatively peers into the room. After a moment she gestures for Abed to look. He leans forward just enough to see, pressed up against Annie, her hair brushing his face; she takes hold of his hand while they watch.

  
The room is a computer lab, full of bulky antiquated machines with lots of blinking lights. One seems to be in use, a few lines of text visible on the screen. On a chair in front of that computer sits Leonard, veteran of Greendale's paintball wars and a few real ones, with a paintball gun laid across his knees. No other guards can be seen.

  
Annie and Abed exchange a mystified glance, their faces just inches apart. Finally Annie takes a few cautious steps into the room, raising her weapon. As Abed follows, he realizes the precaution was unnecessary; Leonard makes no move to fight them. "I've been expecting you," he announces calmly.

  
"What is this? Did you set up the game?" Annie asks.

  
Leonard shakes his head slowly. "I got an anonymous message offering me some money to keep this server running. They're routing the website through it so Frankie Dart can't find the sponsors and ruin everybody's fun. I took computer classes here in the seventies, so I'm probably one of the few people at Greendale who still knows how these babies work."

  
"So all this--the guards, the secret lair--is just a diversion? Why do you have to be here in the middle of the night?"

  
"Well," Leonard smiles slightly, "it's also a good way to lead people from Frankie's committee who ask too many questions into a trap."

  
The sound of footsteps from the hallway becomes audible. Abed and Annie turn back to the doorway in alarm. Looking outside, they see more students, at least half a dozen, coming down the hall towards the computer lab. Paintballs fly past them and they duck back behind the door; Annie slams it shut but the lock is broken.

  
Abed grabs a chair and pushes it against the door while Annie confiscates Leonard's gun. "With my knowledge of old video games, I can probably figure out how to get some data from this computer," Abed says. "If you can keep them out for a minute, we might be able to find something we can use to track down the people in charge. Then we can try to escape through the vents." Annie nods and grabs hold of the doorknob just as someone outside tries to turn it. Abed takes a USB drive from his pocket and gets to work on the computer.

  
The interface is confusing, but after a minute Abed thinks he has the information he needs. Of course the USB drive proves useless; it can't be plugged in to this machine. "Hurry up!" Annie shouts as he finishes scribbling numbers on an index card.

  
"Get ready!" he tells her, pocketing the note with the key information. Time for some action scenes.

  
Abed has to climb onto a desk to reach the nearest vent and pull off the cover. Meanwhile Annie lets go of the doorknob and, to Abed's initial confusion, pushes the chair away. The door swings open and one of Leonard's allies falls face-first onto the floor. Impressed by Annie's quick thinking, Abed takes him out while Annie fires at the door, hitting a couple of their opponents and making the rest jump back. A few wild shots miss the two of them, but some paint splashes off the computer screen onto a displeased Leonard.

  
Dodging away from the door, Annie reaches the desk and Abed gives her a boost up to the vent. As their rivals charge into the room, Abed gets a foot on the slippery top of a computer and pulls himself up. Annie takes his hand to help him as paintballs smash into the wall near his feet. They land huddled together in the tiny space; Annie pulls Abed closer for a second, then they both back away as Abed thinks warily of what such a moment would ordinarily suggest about future plot points. He wonders if she's thinking the same thing.

  
Secure for the moment in the vent, the two of them hurry to crawl away from the pursuit. After a moment, Abed bumps into Annie's legs in the dark. "There's another grate here," she belatedly explains.

  
"We can get further than this before we go back in the open," Abed points out.

  
"But right now we have the advantage. We can catch them off guard."

  
Convinced, Abed waits while Annie knocks the grate to the floor and springs down from the vent. As he scrambles to follow her, he hears shouts as the hostile players return to the hallway. By the time Abed hits the floor, two of them are already out. He hits the third and the last one steps out of the room to find both Abed and Annie ready and waiting. Not that Abed needs reminding, but Annie is still pretty awesome during paintball.

  
Annie high-fives Abed as their opponents walk away. He's about to suggest they get some sleep and see what they can learn from the website data tomorrow when he hears Leonard's voice from the computer lab. "Activate purple contingency!"

  
"Couldn't you think of a cooler name?" Annie wonders.

  
"Um, we might have more pressing concerns," Abed warns her. A door has opened a long way down the hall. A long line of students streams out, more than the last group. In retrospect, it should have been obvious that escaping a supervillain lair would be more difficult than that.

  
Annie and Abed turn to flee as Leonard starts laughing.


	3. History of Paintball 101

Away from the computer lab, there's barely enough light to find their way though the hall, but Annie can hear footsteps behind them. "Which door looks like an escape route?" Abed inquires.

  
Most of the doors are closed and they wouldn't be able to see much anyway. "This one?" Annie guesses as they come to an open one that at least seems to have some space behind it. They hurry into the unknown room and close the door, hoping no one saw them hide here.

  
Annie turns on her flashlight and looks around. The room looks like a student lounge, with faded posters on the walls and beanbag chairs on the floor. She realizes the place is familiar and blushes.

  
"We were here last year," Abed says, apparently following the same train of thought. "You were upset about Jeff and Britta's engagement and I gave you a Winger speech."

  
"Mm-hmm." Annie isn't sure what to say. It's also where Abed had cautioned her against doing a "kiss lean." She had denied that at the time, but the truth was, for a second she had been about to go for it, forgetting that Abed was with Rachel and that she was once again obsessing over Jeff. Now, long after Abed and Rachel had broken up, the reminder of that moment makes things still more complicated. Annie's been assuming it's safer to avoid the subject--but if she means to ignore any possible romantic feelings for Abed, what has she been doing all evening?

  
Annie supposes there's something liberating about the paintball game, or any other adventure where they play characters--as if there's no need to stay in their usual roles, and she can express things she would otherwise hide. She wonders if that's also how Abed feels in those moments. And if so, what does it mean that they keep flirting in character?

  
She's distracted from trying to figure out her feelings for Abed by the sound of hushed voices. Leonard's troops are very close by, searching the halls for the two spies. Abed backs into a sheltered corner of the room, well hidden from anyone at the door. Annie follows him over there and presses close against him, waiting nervously for something to happen. _So much for minimizing the romantic tension_ , she thinks, somehow not bothered by that observation.

  
The door opens with a creak. Annie raises her weapon and tenses herself, ready to spring into action. She can sense Abed's matching alertness beside her. A light, brighter than the one she's just hidden in her pocket, drifts around the room, casting jagged shadows, but doesn't reach the two of them.

  
"Looks clear," a slightly nervous voice announces, just a couple feet away. Annie grins; whoever this mysterious paintball army works for, they know who they're dealing with now. She leans forward just enough to see two students hastily leaving the room. More are walking past in the hallway. Relieved, she grabs Abed's hand. Paintball isn't the occasion to worry about getting too involved in a storyline.

  
After a minute, when it seems quiet outside, Annie releases Abed's hand and goes to the door. Glancing around in the hallway, she finds the coast clear. "Do you think we can get to the trapdoor without being found?" she asks Abed.

  
"It's a dangerous mission," he replies, though Annie can tell he's enthusiastic about the prospect. "They could still be near the ladder to the teacher's lounge, and even if they don't know where it leads they might leave people to guard it. They probably kept a watch on the main door, so they'll know we had another way in."

  
"So you think they'll divide their forces, even after we took out the first bunch?" Annie asks, amused.

  
"Well, supervillains usually make obvious strategic mistakes. It's kind of an expected part of their role. Though I guess Leonard may have already checked that off by telling us about the ambush before it was ready." Abed walks around the room, exploring. "Look over here," he calls.

  
In a hidden niche behind a dusty pool table, there's a narrow door. Through a forest of cobwebs, Annie can just make out a sign reading "Maintenance." Abed opens the door to reveal a corridor with bare walls and a tangle of pipes and wires below the ceiling. The space is just a couple feet wide, but it extends far out of sight ahead of them.

  
Annie and Abed exchange looks of delight. On an ordinary day, in an occupied part of of the campus, Annie might have regarded such a place as an unpleasant industrial necessity that she was glad to leave to the maintenance staff. During paintball, in the long-lost computer department they had discovered together, both she and Abed recognize it as a secret passage leading to thrilling possibilities.

  
"Think they know about this?" Annie ventures.

  
"They can't have found all of Greendale's secrets."

  
Abed and Annie carefully and quietly make their way through the corridor, looking for an exit where they might be able to emerge and surprise their opponents. The path bends a couple times, and Annie tries to picture the layout of the computer department from the blueprints they studied to find it last year, but she's not quite sure of where they are. At one point she walks through a particularly dense set of cobwebs while trying to work out their location.

  
"Annie, wait," Abed says. As she turns around, Annie feels his hand brushing her hair. She faces Abed, eyes wide, thinking of Han Solo and the paintball war of 2011.

  
"You picked up a spider," Abed explains, lifting a large and fierce-looking arachnid out of Annie's hair. Annie's worried about him for a second, but the creature doesn't bite as Abed gently sets it on the wall. Annie stares, flustered.

  
"Right. I guess I should pay more attention to where I'm going," she says awkwardly. Abed tilts his head curiously, but doesn't talk as Annie hastily resumes walking to cover her misreading of the situation.

  
Soon the awkwardness is dispelled by the sight of another door on the left side of the passage. With a wordless glance, they take up positions on either side of the doorway, guns raised. Annie carefully pushes the door open.

  
Nothing dramatic happens; they find themselves facing an empty hallway. "I recognize that flier," Abed whispers, gesturing to a piece of paper, askew but still clinging to a disheveled bulletin board, with a picture of an oddly square spaceship and the words "Floppy Disks: The Future of Technology." "I saw it right after we came in. We're getting close to the ladder," Abed explains.

  
Annie nods. "Keep an eye out for hostile agents," she says, not because Abed needs the warning but because she knows he'll appreciate the genre-appropriate dialogue.

  
They approach the exit very slowly and quietly, with their flashlights off. Annie peeks around the last corner; the ladder is there, and she can't see any guards. Would their escape turn out to be this anticlimactic?

  
That question is answered when Annie steps out around the corner. Someone yelps loudly a few feet away and Annie sees a student in the shadows by the wall, scrambling to aim at her. As startled as Annie is, her instincts take over and she quickly shoots her opponent in the arm. At the same moment she notices several more adversaries emerging from a classroom door beyond the ladder. Abed gets one who tries to run towards them, but the others stay near cover. A barrage of paint misses Annie and Abed as they dart back around the corner. When they lean out just enough to return fire, their rivals duck into the classroom--all except one who tries to leap across the hallway to get a better angle. That approach gets him a shirt redecorated in several new colors and an excuse to go get some sleep.

  
"Stay in position!" someone shouts from the classroom. A walkie-talkie crackles faintly. "All forces to secondary access point, ASAP!" Annie thinks the voice sounds familiar.

  
She takes stock of the situation. The ladder is tantalizingly close, but they would be easy targets trying to reach it. With plenty of ammo and a well-prepared leader, the hostile forces would be difficult to get to in the classroom, and their reinforcements could be here any minute.

  
"I can distract them if you take the information and--" Abed begins.

  
Annie shakes her head; she doesn't want Abed out of the game, and not just because Greendale needs his skills for whatever turn the paintball war takes. "Trust me. I have a plan," she tells him.

  
"What's the matter?" Annie yells in the direction of the classroom. "Don't think you can beat me one-on-one?"

  
"Those aren't the rules, Edison."

  
"They can be if we agree on them. Meet me out here and we'll settle this. Abed will stay out of it if your crew does." Abed nods in agreement. "Don't you want payback for the model UN incident?"

  
There's a moment of quiet, then Annie Kim steps out of the classroom. Staring at Annie, she cautiously pockets her gun. Annie does the same and walks into the open. They watch each other for a moment, hands inching closer to their weapons. Annie has a feeling that Annie Kim presents a more formidable challenge than Duncan.

  
Annie Kim reaches for her pocket in the blink of an eye. Annie responds immediately. Orange paint splatters on her rival's shirt even as she raises her weapon.

  
Annie Kim points her gun at Annie Edison for a moment, then drops it on the floor. "Well played, other Annie," she admits with a nod.

  
Annie turns to Abed, excited. He's watching her with a strangely thoughtful expression, like he's making a decision. "Victory handshake?" she suggests. It's not her first choice, but she's hesitant to hint at another Han Solo moment in front of Leonard's agents.

  
"Might need to take a raincheck," Abed replies, still sounding like his spy character. He grabs his gun and takes a shot over Annie's shoulder. She spins to see an angry young student dropping a paintball gun, having apparently decided to ignore the agreement. "We've got company," Abed adds just as the rest of Leonard's army comes into view down the hall and charges at them.

  
Annie springs towards the ladder and pulls herself up, with Abed just behind as paint scatters on the walls. They race up to the trapdoor. Just as the first pursuer reaches the bottom rung, Annie pulls Abed into the teachers lounge and they fall on the floor side by side. Jumping up, they close the door and push the vending machine back over it. In the modern part of Greendale it looks like a peaceful night, with no visible sign of their epic adventure.

  
Annie looks at Abed, elated. "Another successful mission, Agent Nadir," she announces.

  
Abed gives her a subtle smile. "I'll get my contacts working on tracing this IP address. That could lead us to whoever organized the paintball game. Maybe we'll be working undercover again soon."

  
"Until then..." Annie steps closer to Abed. Of course they're going back to the same apartment, but with their spy mission complete they're about to break character for the evening. She leans towards Abed, at first tentatively until she sees him respond. Her lips lightly touch his, then she wraps her arms around Abed and kisses him more confidently. When they pull apart, Annie notices her heart is racing faster than it had during any of the paintball fights she'd been in tonight.

  
"Was that..." Annie trails off, suddenly thinking of all the ways she could have just made things awkward.

  
"Don't worry," Abed assures her, seeming to anticipate her anxieties. "Callbacks are an important way to maintain a sense of continuity for a show, and this one works perfectly with the appropriate genre. Plus, that was an awesome conclusion to our adventure."

  
Annie smiles and hugs Abed. She can contemplate what this means about their relationship later. For now, they've had another classic paintball escapade. And maybe they can have some more before the game is finished. The dean has another dance planned soon; that could be a good setting for secret agents to meet up. And if Annie holds Abed's hand more than usual on the walk home, it's obviously a logical way to appear innocent in case campus security is on the lookout for unauthorized paintballing.


End file.
